How to Define a Project
Before we start there are a number of definitions we need to be clear about. These relate to the type of person needed to manage the work and understanding what a project plan is.
Project Manager:
A project manager is the person accountable for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements, and managing the triple constraint for projects, which is cost, time, and scope.
A project manager is often a client representative and has to determine and implement the exact needs of the client, based on knowledge of the firm they are representing. The ability to adapt to the various internal procedures of the contracting party, and to form close links with the nominated representatives, is essential in ensuring that the key issues of cost, time, quality and above all, client satisfaction, can be realized.
In effect the Project Manager oversees the project but does not become involved in the physical doing of the work.
Project Management Office:
The Project Management Office (PMO) in a business or professional enterprise is the department or group that defines and maintains the standards of process, generally related to project management, within the organization. The PMO strives to standardize and introduce economies of repetition in the execution of projects. The PMO is the source of documentation, guidance and metrics on the practice of project management and execution.
A good PMO will base project management principles on accepted, industry standard methodologies such as PMBOK or PRINCE2. Increasingly influential industry certification programs such as ISO9000 and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) as well as government regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley have propelled organizations to standardize processes. Organizations around the globe are defining, borrowing and collecting best practices in process and project management and are increasingly assigning the PMO to exert overall influence and evolution of thought to continual organizational improvement.
Interim Manager:
Interim management is the temporary provision of management resources and skills. Interim management can be seen as the short-term assignment of a proven heavyweight interim executive manager to manage a period of transition, crisis or change within an organization. In this situation, a permanent role may be unnecessary or impossible to find on short notice. Additionally, there may be nobody internally who is suitable for, or available to take up, the position in question.
In effect the Interim Manager physically does the work and acts as both the designer and implementer.
Project Plan:
A project plan, according to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, is
"...a formal, approved document used to guide both project execution and project control. The primary uses of the project plan are to document planning assumptions and decisions, facilitate communication among stakeholders, and document approved scope, cost, and schedule baselines. A project plan may be summary or detailed."
PRINCE2 defines "...a statement of how and when a project's objectives are to be achieved, by showing the major products, milestones, activities and resources required on the project."
At a minimum, a project plan answers basic questions about the project:
• Why? - What is the problem or value proposition addressed by the project? Why is it being sponsored?
• What? - What is the work that will be performed on the project? What are the major products/deliverables?
• Who? - Who will be involved and what will be their responsibilities within the project? How will they be organized?
• When? - What is the project timeline and when will particularly meaningful points, referred to as milestones, be complete?
Project Schedule:
A detailed plan of major project phases, milestones, activities, tasks and the resources allocated to each task. The most common representation of the project schedule is in a Gantt Chart. A typical PM tool is Microsoft Project which can depict the project as a Gantt chart.
The aim of this article is to understand the different key areas of a supply chain project and what is involved in each.
The key areas are:-
1. Deliverables
2. Timeframe vs. Costs
3. Resources
4. Management Structure
5. Responsibilities / Escalation Process
6. Documentation
7. Work Streams
8. Milestones
9. Dependencies
10. Schedule
11. Dashboard
12. Visibility
1. Deliverables
The project deliverables have normally been outlined by the business and may cover multiple aspects of the Supply Chain / Logistics operations. The deliverable can either be linked to the business case or can be redefined by the PM to clearly outline what is expected and by when. This should then be presented to the project sponsor and signed off.
This document will be referred to during the life of the project and may change. If changes are made they need to be recorded and signed off by the project sponsor.
2. Timeframe vs. Costs
Projects differ in their key requirements. Timeframes may have been set to achieve the end result and cost, although important, is not the key driver. In other cases the cost in implementing the project is key and the business can live with slippage in the timeframe.
Clearly understand what the criteria are and document them for they will change and potentially cause friction within the management team.
3. Resources
Most large projects require the PM to manage the project in the true sense and not to become involved in doing the work. Please note this does not abrogate the PM’s responsibility to oversee the validity of work undertaken by others.
The PM should agree, with project sponsors, work stream Owners and work stream Implementers.
Project stream owners are fully responsible for managing the design, resourcing, implementation and successful completion of each sub work stream.
Project Stream Implementers are responsible to the work stream Owners for all aspects of the sub work streams.
4. Management Structure
Clearly define the management structure for the project. Appoint a core working group and define the reporting between this group and the main board.
5. Responsibilities / Escalation Process
Core Working Group
To be made up of a senior person from each business area that is involved in the overall project. See Work Streams for further details.
Project Steering Group
To be made up of key board members.
The Core working group will meet as and when required as defined by the PM. The Project Steering Group should meet fortnightly on set immovable dates where the PM and any invited Core Working Group members report to the Steering Group. The Steering Group will report to the main board.
Escalation of issues will be through the Steering Group
6. Documentation
There are numerous types of pre set documentation which can be used but the following are the minimum.
• Definition of Business Objectives
• Meetings Log
• Project Milestones
• Meeting Notes (with ACTIONS)
• Issues Log (Current problems to be resolved)
• Risks Logs (Problems that might happen)
• Contacts
• Gantt Chart
7. Work Streams
Warehouse Operations
Owner: Ops Director
Work Stream: IT / IS
Owner: IT / IS Director
Work Stream: Manufacturing
Owner: Manufacturing Director
Work Stream: HR
Owner: HR Director
Work Stream: Transport
Owner: Transport Director
Work Stream: Legal
Owner: Company Sec
Work Stream: Finance
Owner: Finance Director
Work Stream: Purchasing
Owner: Purchasing Director
Each key work stream area has an owner who has overall responsibility for each sub work stream. The work stream owner is responsible for allocating sub work stream implementers.
Work streams are identified by the PM and the Work Stream Owner and in put to the Microsoft Plan to produce a Gantt chart. The sub work streams will be verified by the work stream owner and his implementers will fully populate the Gantt chart with the PM.
8. Milestones
Define the project milestones with the steering group. Complete a milestone chart showing date, milestone and a RAG (Red, Amber, Green) status flag. Set milestones into Gantt chart.
9. Dependencies
Complete a detailed dependencies chart across all areas of the business showing how they are related and what the relationship is. An example chart is set out below.
10. Schedule
The schedule is in fact a Gantt chart. This is generated by software such as Microsoft Project and is in effect a list of all project components, linked and with dates attached. If one date changes then it recalculates the project end date and highlights all issues with related sub work streams.
This tool is important and does not represent the be all and end all of any project. It is a guide and cannot contain everything.
11. Dashboard
A project dashboard is used to manage all of the actions that are agreed to in meetings. One of the key issues in project is sub work stream implementers not keeping to their actions or dates.
The dashboard is a monitoring tool where all actions are added and is monitored weekly to make sure all actions are being processed in time. Example of the headings below.
13. Visibility
Do not enclose the project in a cloak of secrecy. Make it as visible as possible within the business constraints. Consider utilising a shared system drive to hold all project files and making them available to all. Perhaps a “SharePoint” option would also suffice.
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